GABORONE, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- President of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov is in Botswana to assist in launching the Chess in Schools program.
Addressing the media on Thursday afternoon, Ilyumzhinov said the schools project is one way of the world governing body to improve the standard of the game from grassroots level.
He commended the Botswana Chess Federation (BCF) for the good work they have done by introducing programs that targeted introducing the board game in primary schools around the country.
He said Botswana has done tremendously well in international competitions, but will become even better in coming years when bearing fruits of early development programs.
Meanwhile the FIDE president made a donation of 10,000 euros to the BCF which will be used to fund the junior national team at the Africa Schools Chess Championship to be held in Harare Zimbabwe from Aug. 18th.
He will later on Thursday be a guest at the send-off ceremony for the Botswana team that travels to Zimbabwe.
Chess has grown rapidly in Botswana to become one of the most popular sports played in schools and in the community. Enditem
